Date: 05 Apr 2000
Time: 01:00:16
According to most biblical scholars verse 8 is the proper ending for Mark's testament. We all like happy endings - that is why so many persons enter the doors of the church on Easter Sunday. We are ready to hear some good news. Yet how this contrasts with the way the good news is received by the women at the tomb. They are filled with terror and amazement. Resurrection is not always comforting - assuring - sweet. Resurrection is radical. Resurrection is confrontational. Resurrection demands a response. The women are filled with terror. Why? Are we going to preach this? They are amazed. Why? Are you going to tackle this one? How many folks are content with new clothes, a packed church, and a great offering (actually ours is not all that great on Easter - lots of dollar bills!!!). The title of my sermon based on Mark 16:1-8 is "Cat got your tongue?" Kebo in TX
Date: 08 Apr 2000
Time: 15:20:08
Kebo, I'm glad someone else is wrestling with how to be authentic with the original Easter story. I do, however, believe that the Easter message must be a simple message of hope to draw the infrequent or first time hearer back to hear a more challenging Gospel on an ongoing basis. With that in mind, I am focusing on the uncertainty and terror of the current situation for the women alongside the promise that "he is going ahead of you." I believe that most people know the experience of crisis (death, job loss, fractured relationships, natural disasters, etc.) that cannot be simply wiped away with a sugar coated Easter message. The promise that the living God goes before us, even before we are aware of it, can provide a guiding purpose in the midst of the terror. Of course, I am looking for good illustrations of this point and any reaction others would like to offer.
Growing through Lent, looking forward to Easter,
Cindy in Wisconsin
Date: 11 Apr 2000
Time: 05:17:37
Cindy, I was struck by your phrase "wiped away with a sugar coated Easter message." Isn't that what the easter bunny's chocolates are? Can the image be redeemed in light of the paradoxical nature of Easter? Right on, centering in the terror of the resurrection and God's sheltering nature. Thanks. Fisherfolk in OH
Date: 12 Apr 2000
Time: 21:25:12
Looking back in my records I have found that I have never used Mark's story on Easter. I have always reverted to one of the others. So I am challenged to use Mark this year. My question is: Did Mark purposefully end his gospel where he does (16.8)? Or is there some other reason for such an abrupt ending. History certainly has provided other endings but what about Mark's purpose? Was part of his manuscript lost? Did he never get to finish it for whatever reason? Or did he intend to end with the women's fear? And end the sentence with a preposition? And if Mark did purposefully end with verse 8 what is his rationale? What is he telling his readers? And what does their context tell us? Questions, questions, questions.
--Dwight in the Northwest
Date: 13 Apr 2000
Time: 08:17:39
Dwight - I agree. Lots of questions and no easy answers (pretty much like a lot of Christianity isn't it?)
I did come across one theory about the end of Mark which suggested that actually we are missing the "original" beginning and ending - that the outer pages were lost - which is why Mark's gospel starts so abruptly too.
Having said that, I think we have to work with what we have - in all it's strangeness and incompleteness. I intend to refer to the alternative versions in passing - showing how people in the past didn't like living with an incomplete ending. We all like to have things neatly wrapped up, don't we?
Groucho - England
Date: 13 Apr 2000
Time: 13:17:56
I agree that the message of hope has to be proclaimed on Easter morning and EVERY resurrection Sunday! The call to evangelism is so strong in verse 7, "But go, tell his disciples and Peter..." To me this sounds so much like the message at the Transfiguration. What are you doing standing around looking for something that's not here? Don't we all do that at different points in our lives? Mark calls us on the carpet and pressures us to "go". So, what is so hopeful about this? The fact that Christ will be going ahead of us making all paths straight. No matter what . . . we who are called to "go" will be following the one already victorious. The strife is o'er the battle done. Praise be to the Resurrected Lord. Amen!
Date: 13 Apr 2000
Time: 13:19:59
Sorry about the misprint in my last comment. I meant to type Ascension, not Transfiguration. Please excuse my wayward thoughts.
Date: 13 Apr 2000
Time: 13:20:18
Sorry about the misprint in my last comment. I meant to type Ascension, not Transfiguration. Please excuse my wayward thoughts.
Date: 14 Apr 2000
Time: 14:05:57
In the Northern Hemisphere we have tended to use the changing of the seasons, from winter to spring as a symbol of the death and resurrection. (eg. In the Bulb there is a Flower) I would be very interested, from our brothers & sisters in the Southern Hemisphere,to know what is used as a symbol for Jesus' death and resurrection.
Now for the length of Mark's gospel, John Shelby Spong believe's that it is intentional : "Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes". I hesitate to say more without the book at hand. I am at home and the book is at the church. Thanks for an interesting conversation.
ruraloracle in MB
Date: 16 Apr 2000
Time: 13:55:45
I think Mark is organized around three passages where Jesus is proclaimed in the text with a faith statement, (Introduction, Peter's confession, centurion at cross) followed by a divine confirmation of the faith statement (baptism, transfiguration, -blank-). The third pair is not finished because Mark ('s community) was waiting for the Return. The gospel ends with a waiting, for the shoe to drop, to Jesus to return, which is more important to them than the resurrection account. Now, how does this preach? What do we expect from God? Everything neatly tied up? A happy ending? Can we live in expectation, or only in fulfillment? Dunno.
Date: 17 Apr 2000
Time: 01:11:10
In few years ago, while attending the National Camp and Retreat Leaders Conference (UMC) at St. Simon's Island, GA, I heard a 3-4 part Bible study by a woman from Tennessee. (I can't remember her name and my notes are not good . . . please note that these are her idea, not mine.) She had us "climb" into the story found in Mark 16:1-8. She suggested that it ends with people whom we want to be heroes, but they are not. They are afraid, running in fear from the empty tomb and saying nothing to anyone. In our "achievement-driven" world, they would appear to be failures. But (and this is my thought) Mark has other things in mind. By painting pictures throughout his gospel account of followers who fall short of the mark (no pun intended), he has left room in the story for us. The study leader (back to Georgia) suggested that we might recognize ourselves in not only in the failings, but in the sucsesses as well. Those who fled from the tomb were 1.) astute: to watch and track where the body lay 2.) organzed: to put together an early morning trip as they did 3.) caring: to even want to make the effort 4.) knowledgable: to know what needed to be done to care for the body 5.) faithful: to do such a dreadfully "yukky" task (imagine a body lying in a cave for three days, she said) 6.) positive: to even think that they could roll away the stone . . . She said (and I quote from my notes) "If we are so much like them, the good and the not so good, why can't we be disciples too?" I will invite my congregation to "climb into" the story and allow the story to climb into us. RevMom
Date: 17 Apr 2000
Time: 01:11:38
In few years ago, while attending the National Camp and Retreat Leaders Conference (UMC) at St. Simon's Island, GA, I heard a 3-4 part Bible study by a woman from Tennessee. (I can't remember her name and my notes are not good . . . please note that these are her idea, not mine.) She had us "climb" into the story found in Mark 16:1-8. She suggested that it ends with people whom we want to be heroes, but they are not. They are afraid, running in fear from the empty tomb and saying nothing to anyone. In our "achievement-driven" world, they would appear to be failures. But (and this is my thought) Mark has other things in mind. By painting pictures throughout his gospel account of followers who fall short of the mark (no pun intended), he has left room in the story for us. The study leader (back to Georgia) suggested that we might recognize ourselves in not only in the failings, but in the sucsesses as well. Those who fled from the tomb were 1.) astute: to watch and track where the body lay 2.) organzed: to put together an early morning trip as they did 3.) caring: to even want to make the effort 4.) knowledgable: to know what needed to be done to care for the body 5.) faithful: to do such a dreadfully "yukky" task (imagine a body lying in a cave for three days, she said) 6.) positive: to even think that they could roll away the stone . . . She said (and I quote from my notes) "If we are so much like them, the good and the not so good, why can't we be disciples too?" I will invite my congregation to "climb into" the story and allow the story to climb into us. RevMom
Date: 17 Apr 2000
Time: 01:11:43
In few years ago, while attending the National Camp and Retreat Leaders Conference (UMC) at St. Simon's Island, GA, I heard a 3-4 part Bible study by a woman from Tennessee. (I can't remember her name and my notes are not good . . . please note that these are her idea, not mine.) She had us "climb" into the story found in Mark 16:1-8. She suggested that it ends with people whom we want to be heroes, but they are not. They are afraid, running in fear from the empty tomb and saying nothing to anyone. In our "achievement-driven" world, they would appear to be failures. But (and this is my thought) Mark has other things in mind. By painting pictures throughout his gospel account of followers who fall short of the mark (no pun intended), he has left room in the story for us. The study leader (back to Georgia) suggested that we might recognize ourselves in not only in the failings, but in the sucsesses as well. Those who fled from the tomb were 1.) astute: to watch and track where the body lay 2.) organzed: to put together an early morning trip as they did 3.) caring: to even want to make the effort 4.) knowledgable: to know what needed to be done to care for the body 5.) faithful: to do such a dreadfully "yukky" task (imagine a body lying in a cave for three days, she said) 6.) positive: to even think that they could roll away the stone . . . She said (and I quote from my notes) "If we are so much like them, the good and the not so good, why can't we be disciples too?" I will invite my congregation to "climb into" the story and allow the story to climb into us. RevMom
Date: 17 Apr 2000
Time: 20:12:13
I am taking off on the "terror" the women felt and making my theme: "Jesus answers the four greatest fears in life." Anyone care to vote on the three greatest fears in the life of an "Easter Sunday Christian?" First, I feel has to be death. HELP!! Any votes for the next two, or disagreements with #1? revup
Date: 17 Apr 2000
Time: 22:31:58
Turning again to Ched Myers for insight/inspiration:
In "Binding the Strong Man," Myers argues that Mark 16:1-8 is indeed the end of this Gospel. Careful reading of this ending in its context shows that "in these few verses...the story is rescued from tragic irresolution. It is not a 'happy ending' in which all is resolved; rather, the discipleship narrative is given a new lease to continue" (p. 397).
Myers continues: "The full revelation of the Human One...has resulted in nothing more and nothing less than the regeneration of the messianic mission....The 'invitation' by Jesus, via the young man [dressed in white in the empty tomb], to follow him to Galilee, is the third and last call to discipleship. He evokes both hope and terror. Hope, in that he who once joined in the naked shame of abandonment (14:51f.) now [appears] in new attire; terror, in that his new clothes are those of a martyr figure" (p. 399).
Further: "The 'dilemma' of the ending is precisely what Mark refuses to resolve for us; he *means* to have us wrestle with whether or not the women at the tomb (that is to say, we ourselves) overcame their fear in order to proclaim the new beginning in Galilee (16:8)" (p. 401).
Finally, from "Who Will Roll Away the Stone," Myers' sequel to "Binding the Strong Man": "Here is a possibility we never considered, a prospect too terrible to contemplate. An invitation to follow Jesus--*again*. To resume the Way, the consequences of which we now know all too well. Suddenly, from deep within us, from that unexplored space underneath our profoundest hopes and fears, roars a tidal wave of trauma, ecstasy, and terror all at once. We race out of the tomb as if we had just seen a ghost. And so we have: in Jesus' empty tomb there is nothing but the ghost of our discipleship past and [a glimpse] of our discipleship future" (p. 412).
Doug in Riverside
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 00:28:49
This site is great! A big "thank you" to all who contribute and make it possible. Having enjoyed the comments for several weeks, I’d like to offer some input for Easter.
How do you recapture a bit of the shocking surprise of the empty tomb on that first Easter morning? Here’s a way that was quite effective when I tried it about 20 years ago, and am considering doing it again this year; it goes well with Mark’s abrupt ending:
During the hymn before the sermon, sneak out and go to the narthex or entry way of your sanctuary. When the hymn ends and worshippers are waiting for the sermon to begin, they see nobody up there. Wait for a minute until they get fidgety and impatient. Then in a loud voice from the back say, "Where is he[she]? He[she]’s not there! Well, Jesus wasn’t there either, where they expected to find Him that first Easter morning. etc." Slowly walk up the aisle, elaborating and applying the Easter message.
May God the Holy Spirit bless our message and breath new life into the Church this Easter!
Peace in Christ, Carl in Pumpkin Hook (NY)
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 10:24:42
I was going to chicken out and use another gospel - untl I read some of your posts. As usual, right on the mark (yeah, right, no pun intentded!).
The two words that give me pause in this passage are "and Peter." In reading the passage narrative last Sunday I put alot of emphasis on Peter's denial - on Jesus' precise understanding of it - its motive, its impact, right down to pinpointing the time of its occurance.
I have never done anything dramatic like a first person sermon - my DCE does that so much with our children, I've always shied away. But this passage leaves me wondering - what about Peter? What must he have thought when he heard the Good News addressed specifically to him?
Perhaps Easter Sunday will not find me in costume, but I think I have found a verse to live out of and in to for the remainder of Holy Week. Oh, how God can bless us at the point of greatest weakness and failure.
Blessed Easter.
MW in MA
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 13:00:34
Thanks all for the great discussion... a few thoughts to add... Some say the abrupt ending to Mark's gospel is evidence that it is the oldest - the closest to the actual event - although Paul's words in 1 Corinthinans 15 are certainly older. Anyway, because it is more immediate than the other gospels, it is not as overlayed with details and interpretation as the others, who wrote afterwards. In Mark 16 I am drawn to the contrast between the young man's "Do not be alarmed/afraid," and the final noted reaction of the women - they are afraid indeed. And instead of going and telling as they are instructed, Mark says they keep quiet about it, in their amazement. Anyone have thoughts? Perhaps looking on the empty tomb was like looking into the Grand Canyon - you know that something big, something awesome happened there, that's not easy to explain. Perhaps it is enough to be left in wonder -a good news kind of wonder, on Easter morning. After all , Easter is a season and we have weeks & weeks to dig into the details and consequences and get at the rest of the story. Easter blessings to all. JZ in CT.
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 14:09:43
I think there is a pun intended in Mark - a sweet irony; in the midst of terror the women are found to "say nothing". That is what Jesus kept repeating about himself after healings and exorcisms - "tell no one" and instead precisely the opposite occurred. The folks who received the gift told everyone and his fame spread. Some scholars say the ending of Mark directs the women not just geographically back to Gallilee but "literally" back to the start of the gospel with Jesus in Galilee. Now that they know the messianic secret, they are to reread the gospel in the light of the resurrection. The book is itself a "loop" long before Pulp Fiction was ever filmed! Unfortunately I can't remember who was the first scholar to come up with this, and maybe it doesn't matter. Pam in TPA
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 14:54:25
Well here goes, this is my first posting, though I've been visiting this site for quite a while.
I love Mark's gospel, no sugary sweet beginnings, virgin births, shepherds or wise folk from the East - it seems somehow to spring from the void. No easy endings either, the empty tomb is the ultimate void, yet this tomb of emptiness is also the womb from which resurrection life springs forth in all it fullness.
Yet if death and empty tombs are frightening, the resurrection is even more so. I like very much the reflections of the Guatemalan theologian Julia Esquivel when she talks of the menace of the resurrection.
Calling back to life again all those parts of our lives which we have left for dead, calling back to life again all those bits of our society which have been left for dead is menacingly hard spiritual and physical work....
No wonder the women are frightened, they are going to have to begin this work. Running from the void, the empty tomb, with their fear and their silence, they have learnt the first part of the resurrection message - Christ rising from the dead is only the beginning, each one of us fleeing from the void with our fear and silence has to finish the story, find trust and confidence and security and a voice.
The resurrection may then become physical reality in our lives, as meaning and life once more spring forth from the empty tomb, fear and silence may be replaced by hope and laughter.
Not quite sure if that's going anywhere, but thought I'd give it a try. Thanks for all your insightful comments. I've enjoyed them for nearly a year now.
By the way, I work and preach in France, in French, which may explain some strage turns of phrase.
Jane in France
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 15:42:28
Reading the comments for this scripture passage does leave one with many unanswered questions. However I may try to tie the everyday physical preparations of preparing the body for burial and preparing the (body) to meet the risen Christ. We are all given this message to go and tell (the Peters) that Christ has risen and He is expecting to meet us someday at a particular place in our lives. Are we ready for the risen Christ? Just beginning thoughts. LPinPA
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 16:01:16
Pam in TPA speaks of the "loop". I had heard that before as well, but I can't come up with the source either. I plan to use that concept to challenge my congregation (new church, 3rd week of worship this easter) to consider the idea of going back and reading the Gospel in light of the ressurection. But.... it goes very deep. Reading means being challenged to believe. In a society that is moving out of the sceintific and into the possibility of the spiritual (ala x-files, and touched by an angel)we are challenged to reconsider our life in light of the terrifying "good news" that this might really be true! David Israel, www.the-oak.org
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 16:45:55
I just want to take a little space to welcome Carl in Pumpkin Hook (NY), Jane in France (your English is great!) and other first-time posters at the round-table of DPS. Thank you for everybody's contributions.
Blessings . . . Frank, DPS dir.
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 20:19:12
From my reading of Mark, Mark continually asks the question, "Who is the Christ?" but is careful never to answer the question for the reader. Mark lays out all the evidence, but will not hand feed the reader, the reader must discover for him/herself. I believe this is the real ending. Once again, Mark leaves it for us to figure out.
Changing subjects: For those of you who are Presbyterians, there is an excelent article in *Presbyterians Today* titled, "It Causes Me to Tremble" by Kenneth Gibble. For those of you who are not Presbyterian, I will try to summarize. Gibble takes the hymn, "Where you There" and contrast the emotions it connotates with the emotions of Easter Sunday. He states that we would think that the resurrection should elicit a different reaction, an Hallelujah perhaps, but the reaction on the first Easter was the same as it was on the first Good Friday, namely fear and trembling. Gibbles goes on to talk about how we have domesticated Easter and in doing so have stripped it of its power. "Easter is something we just do-once every spring(sorry to you DPSers down under, Gibble was writing to a North American audience). But resurrection is something only God can do....Easter should make us tremble. Because it is the announcement of God's victory over all the things that conspire against us-discouragement, pain, loneliness, disease, loss, injustice, hatred and, yes, even death....If that is not enough to make us tremble, tremble with amazement and with joy, we are a sad and sorry bunch indeed." (Kenneth Gibble is a Church of the Brethern pastor and writer living in Chambersberg, Pa.)
Grace and blessings this Holy Week, JR in Big D
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 21:47:25
I believe that Mark intended for his Gospel to end where it does now. Remembering that it is the first catechism, written to a young church - one which still had many questions, which was still trying to figure out who Jesus was, which did not as yet have the doctrinal formulations that it later developed. He portrays the disciples as always failing to understand - how can they, except in light of the resurrection? And even there, it seems toraise more questions than it answers - so much so that someone felt compelled to write a happier ending for Mark's Gospel. Marks ending is much more realistic - the terror of finding everything changed, the foundations of one's life suddenly not only shaken, but utterly destroyed. Barth said that Jesus is not the great answer to life's questions, but the great question to all of our answers. So it is here - the women come to the tomb, expecting to find Jesus there (where else would he be?); but find, instead, that the one preseumption we all make about life (nothing is certain but death and taxes!) has been blown away. The angel tells them to go and tell the disciples to go find him in Galilee, but they go away silent. The questions remain: will they go and tell the disciples,finally? Will the disciples go looking for Jesus? What will they find in Galilee? Mark's ending brings us into the questioning - will we, as his disciples, also go? And what will we find there? It is a highly evangelistic message.
There are events in life that catch us totally by suprise and leave us trembling in awe and fear. Perhaps we can tune our parishoners into some of these. Or perhaps we can try to lead them into the women's experience at the tomb - a very difficult job, I think, because we are the beneficiaries of 2000 years of theology that has removed us from the awe and fright of that first Easter.
Some years ago, I put banners up in the sanctuary (for the best effect, you could use some spray paint to make the place look vandalized, but your members might not go for that much!) that read, "God is NOWHERE!" I told the story of a parish that came together on Easter Sunday, only to find their parish vandalized, with that message spray painted across the altar. Of course, it somewhat dimmed the service. As the hour of worship wore on, the pastor was delivering his sermon, when one little boy, who had been struggling to find the meaning of those strange words, finally piped up, pulling at his parent's clothing: "I know what those words say!" he said, excitedly. His parents tried to quiet him, but he was too excited: "I know what they say: 'God is now HERE!'"
We assume that we know what life is about. It is deadly in its sameness; the day-to-day dreariness, the constant battles, can be soul-deadening. Even Christians get caught up in "life-as-usual," attentive so much to the petty details of getting through our days that we forget "God is now HERE!" We forget that every moment is tied into eternity, every event filled with hope, every decision filled with new possibilities by the One who opened even the gates of death.
Enough preaching - got a sermon to write!
Gary in New Bern
P.S. Although spring happened a while ago for us, bulbs, butterflies and the rest still work for us, too - it's just that Santa and snow stuff that gives us problems! ... most of the time.
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 22:27:33
Sister Jane,
Thank you for your musings. Welcome to the table.
Shalom,
Nail-Bender in NC
Date: 18 Apr 2000
Time: 23:18:04
Hello, After months of reading your comments, I am finally contributing. Thanks for all the help with past sermons.
As an Associate Pastor, I have never preached on Easter Sunday, despite preaching for 10 years. I am a little nervous. But here are my thoughts so far: in seminary, I saw a video-taped sermon by an African American preacher on this text entitled "Who Will Roll Away the Stone"--I wish I remembered his name, or that I had the video tape! In the sermon, he used the image of the stone to talk about those aspects of our life that are too big to be moved, even by caring folks who have come to do good (i.e. the women in the story)...he kept repeating the refrain "who will roll away the stone?"
Then, when he came to the tomb and got to "the stone was already rolled away!" wow! it was a very powerful place to go with the sermon. Right now that is where I am headed--I'm just looking for a way to have it come from my voice and our congregation's experience.
Any images of the "stone" in our lives would be greatly appreciated.
Cathy in Queens, NYC
Date: 19 Apr 2000
Time: 02:17:38
I found a wonderful commentary on the text by Marie Sabin on The Text This Week site, I hope the link works!http://www.aril.org/sabin.htm
For me, the most interesting insight was the argument that the NRSV translation that the women were terrified is not the best in this case. In the Bible, fear and awe are the same word, the same emotion, really. She argues that in the Bible, fear and trembling are positive emotions, that they show a proper respect and honor for God.
Sabin argues that Mark is not criticizing the women for being too scared to share the Good News, rather, Mark is expressing the tremendous awe and wonder that they felt at the mighty act of God in the Resurrection. That they did go and tell, eventually, is clear from the fact that we know the story.
There's lots of other good stuff in the article. You might want to take a look.
Sharon
Date: 19 Apr 2000
Time: 12:45:28
Her name was Carol. She was the organist at her church. She was an outstanding musician, but she did something no organist should ever do. She overslept on Easter morning and missed the sunrise service.
She was so embarrassed. Of course, the minister and the church forgave her. They teased her about it a little, but it was done lovingly and in good fun. However, the next Easter, her phone rang at 5:00 in the morning. Jolted awake by the loud ringing, she scrambled to answer it. It was the minister, and he said, "Carol, it's Easter morning! The Lord is risen! ... And I suggest you do the same!"
The message is clear: We too can be resurrected. Christ shares his resurrection with us. He rises, and so can we. We too can have new life. We too can make a new start. We too can rise out of those tombs that try to imprison us!
James W. Moore, Some Things Are To Good Not To Be True, Dimensions, 1994, p., 74.
R in V
Date: 19 Apr 2000
Time: 19:37:48
Gibble gets around! The same article mentioned is in this week's edition of theMennonite. I like the question: "What causes you to tremble?" This seems pertinent given the "No Fear" mentality that seems to dominate around us. tina in Ohio
Date: 19 Apr 2000
Time: 20:17:18
Gibbler gets around! The same article mentioned above is featured this week in theMennonite. I like the question: "What causes you to tremble?" This question seems very pertinent given the "No Fear" mentality that pervades society today.
Date: 19 Apr 2000
Time: 22:00:29
In response to revup (BTW is that your license plate as well?)... what are the three greates Easter fears??? I would have to say that the greatest one is that it is true... that Jesus was raised from the dead as he said... If it's true then everything else he said was true... every bit of it from the forgiveness of our sins... loving God above all else... loving one another and ourselves... caring for the less fortunate... and on and one... If it's really true that He is Risen... then how well am I living that reality? To me that's the greatest Easter fear. Paulette in CT
Date: 20 Apr 2000
Time: 04:03:25
The most terrifying and haunting dream I ever had was right after my Dad died of cancer. In the dream, he came back to life, he walked into the room, and I was terrified. . . he tried to calm me down, but when he spoke I became even more afraid. When I woke up it was in the coldest of sweats.
I never understood why until our discussion of the fear of the women at the tomb. Resurrection is (ought to be) positively frightening. It means a radical end to the way things are . . . We kind of like the way things are because we are used to them; even death. The women were expecting a stiff corpse . . . they were on their way to anoint deadness, they were not hoping for resurrection, their biggest problem was "who would roll away the stone."
Yes they were grieving, but still it made sense, it's what happens when one is crucified; it's just the way it is. Even though it's horrible, it's more comfortable than God acting in an irrational and out of the ordinary way. It means that things are going to have to change.
I think we need to get back to a healthy fear of Easter and get away from the holiday that let's us wear our spring best once per year, and talk about butterflies and cacoons and catapillars, and get down to the real hard facts that God has taken hold of creation!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! And I'm scared out of my wits!
WJA in CA.
Date: 20 Apr 2000
Time: 04:48:28
Thank you all for your contributions. You've solidified my thoughts for my first sermon (and maybe my second, too). First one is a joint service with the Baptist church "in town." I chose as my title "Nothing Extraordinary" and mean to focus on the fact that the women were doing nothing extraordinary that day. They were going to annoint a body that had not been annointed for burial because of the Sabbath. Then God breaks in on their lives and changes everything. Isn't that when God comes to us? When we're not expecting it, when we're doing nothing extraordinary. Maybe when we're cleaning the Sanctuary for Easter services, or fixing the Sunrise breakfast, or doing dishes at the kitchen sink, or preparing a sermon . . . It's in those times, those ordinary times, that God comes to us and makes our lives extraordinary. Anybody want to share some of those God breaking in moments of your lives?
My second sermon is titled Buried Treasure. (I really didn't intend it to have anything to do with Jesus' burial.) Several years ago I purchased a tiny volume by Max Lucado titled "He Still Moves Stones." At the time, I thought it WAS the book, but now I know it must have been excerpts. The first story, in which Lucado points out that the stone was not moved so Jesus could get out, but so that the women could see in struck me then, as it does now, as a radical way of perceiving the Easter event. About two weeks ago, I found the full volume of "He Still Moves Stones." Immediately, I purchased, brought it home, and began to search through it for the same types of illustrations, the same types of insights in the smaller version. I guess I'm going to have to look longer and harder and deeper because they seem to be buried in the book. Yet, I know that as I do, I will be blessed, and challenged and stones will be moved in my life. The book is a buried treasure.
And that's where I'm stuck. I don't want to say Jesus is a buried treasure(yuck)! I won't say that Jesus unburies all our bad stuff and turns them into treasures (too trite).
But somewhere there's a thought churning around about allowing Jesus to change our lives, to be willing to wait, to be willing to "dig" a little and find Jesus.
You see I think of the first service as the "mass of the faithful," after all, who else would get up for an Early Easter Service? The second service is more likely to be people we see only on Easter (too cold at Christmas, and you know it's family time), friends or relatives of our members. What would you say to these people who have faith, but are not faithful?
Thanks for your help.
RevJan
Date: 20 Apr 2000
Time: 07:30:28
thank you for your welcome. I find reading the contributions here profoundly moving and thought provoking. It speaks deeply of the resurrection that an associate pastor will be preaching for the first time this Easter after 10 years of ministry. I wish I could hear your sermon Cathy. Your idea about the stone and the things we feel immoveable and too big to cope with in our lives set me thinking about the Berlin Wall coming down and my time in East Germany. The wall was certainly a mighty stone rolled aside. So here's some more musings for what they're worth...
Ten years ago I was on a post Easter retreat with older members of my then congregation in East Germany. It was a wonderful time. At the morning and evening services we encouraged people to tell of resurrection stories from their own lives. These were people who had lived through the terrible upheaval of the second world war and then spent forty years under communism. As they spoke of resurrection stories tears often flowed. A retired nurse told of how during the war years she was surrounded in the hospital by babies dying of dyssentry – before the days of knowledge that a simple salt and sugar solution would have saved them – it was all too much and many of the staff in the hospital simply felt they couldn't go on facing so much death. What helped them pull through this terrible time, was the recovery of a young woman who had been brought to the hospital to die. Slowly as she got better, so the staff managed to find a renewed sense of what they were doing and continue in their work.
For me the resurrection became real as these people, whose recollectioons were often written off as "old people going on about the past", found the courage to speak of finding life and meaning in the midst of pain and death. Their laughter and tears are with me each Easter as I prepare to move from Good Friday to Easter Sunday and find my own resurrection stories.
Easter blessings to you all as we burn the midnight oil .... maybe that sermon will come!
Jane in France
Date: 20 Apr 2000
Time: 14:45:46
This text is so familiar to many of us that it is a good exercise to make it come anew. One way to do that is to ask as many questions of the text as possible. As I began this exercise (which usually leads to my better sermons), the question came: 'why an angel? Why wasn't Jesus simply sitting there to give the good news himself? Why not just appear to the disciples right off and directly?'. To me it speaks of how God includes his entire creation in giving witness to Jesus Christ. What an honor that we are included in this divine and very real drama. God gives us a role...he puts us into the game. Two women approaching a tomb carrying spices to annoint a dead body and they have no idea how they are going to move a stone. What a pitiful sight isn't it. And yet because they make themself available, God makes them key players in a divine plan! We too bring our fragile, broken hearted, and doubting lives into church on Easter morning and the good news is that by making ourselves available, God can now use us in carrying out his divine plan. Now that is scary isn't it? That God may ask you to do something that big!!...no wonder they were in awe/fear.
Just a few rambling thoughts as Easter Sunday approaches.
RW
Date: 20 Apr 2000
Time: 16:30:29
I absolutely loved Cathy in Queens' discussion on "Who Will Roll Away the Stone." My mind races with all the stones in the lives of my congregation. In one week, I had a woman come to me because she just discovered that her husband was gay and another woman come to me with bruises all over her body left by her husband and step-son and another woman attempted suiside with a drug overdose. These are stones I cannot move away. I can pray. I can be with them. I can offer them resources. I can do a lot of things, but I cannot move those stones, only God can.
This idea of the stones we can not move was dancing in my head when I read what wrote, "We kind of like the way things are because we are used to them." This makes me think of all the people who come into my office (or I meet with in their homes) who have obstacles, but reject all possible solutions. "That won't work because..." They like the idea that their "stones" are too big because it gives them permission not to mess with them. Sometimes in our discipleship we are called to mess with stones that we have no idea how to handle. Yes, God will roll away the stone, but we must make ourselves available in order to witness the glory of God. JR in Big D
Date: 20 Apr 2000
Time: 19:49:18
Wonderful insights!Am especially touched by the comments about the stone being rolled away.
I am also preaching this Mark text, but have included verses 9-11 as part of the reading. These verses include interesting info about Mary Magdalene who was the 1st to see Christ. Am just beginning to consider what this might mean, so am processing as I write.
The verses let us know that she was delivered of 7 demons.She, who had been utterly full of demons, was now utterly empty of them. Like the tomb, she was emptied of what was deadly in her.
Mary was given a new lease on life. These 'added verses'seem to roll something away. The stone that was blocking our look at Mary.At Mary, who all the gospel writers make sure to mention as the 1st one who saw the risen Lord.
It was she who had been delivered from demons. 7 of them. And, although we never talk about demons at our church, I bet they drive, I mean drove, people to despair, destruction, to death.
The stone was rolled away from Jesus's tomb. And maybe from Mary's tomb also.
My question at this point: Like the editor of Mark, will someone eventually add a few verses to the story of my life?
Will those verses roll away the stone and let an observer 'see' that Jesus delivered and emptied me of my demons; that Jesus touched me and changed me? Is that part of the resurrection message?
I'm just asking. PN
Date: 20 Apr 2000
Time: 19:59:46
I can't get the concept of "consent" or "surrender" out of my mind -- it is only through faith (willing consent) that we will "see" the risen Lord.
I am struck and saddened by the angels comment and the response: Go, tell, he is ahead of you, you wll see him;
yet they fled, seized with terror, and said nothing.
Where does this "negativity" point? What is really being said? Are they suffering from a type of post tramatic syndrome? What now will stir them to belief?
There seems to be a pause, an empty space, between the news of the resurrection and his appearances to the disciples? How do we preach this pause????
tom in ga
Date: 21 Apr 2000
Time: 04:34:41
Christ is risen, indeed! In response to the 4 great fears... i once heard that public speaking is a fear worse than death (for many).
Perhaps you could point to the 3 words that people most want to hear (found in a recent poll). 1. I love you. 2. You are forgiven. 3. Supper is ready!
The 3 words that the Church should be proclaiming- in light of the Gospel message!
PastorGumby, NJ
Date: 21 Apr 2000
Time: 18:19:24
RevJan, a few thoughts on buried treasure...you do have to be careful about bring trite, but I ws thinking that any treasure that's buried is really useless...it only has worth if it is opened and put to use. All the treasure of Jesus' words, healings and teachings would be worthless treasure indeed if left buried in the tomb that Easter morning. But because they are not, and he is not there, the treasure of God's love is true and out in the world with us, for us, and in us. Jim in CT.
Date: 21 Apr 2000
Time: 19:58:04
I think that as much as death (and public speaking for some), that many have a fear of life. Life as it pertains to all of our relationships. What does it mean to live in relationship with one another? As one person here asked "How is the event of the resurrection in the gospel account of Mark informing the way I live each day?"
In response to pastor Gumby. I liked Seinfeld's joke about public speaking being people's number one fear. He says, "Speaking in public is the number one fear, death being second. That means that at a funeral people would rather be the one for whom they are holding the funeral than delivering the eulogy".
Dwight in WV
Date: 22 Apr 2000
Time: 00:23:10
Groucho in England writes: "I did come across one theory about the end of Mark which suggested that actually we are missing the "original" beginning and ending - that the outer pages were lost - which is why Mark's gospel starts so abruptly too."
Good point! The majority of Evangelicals have a difficult time accepting the longer ending because of form critical issues (e.g. sacramental & charismatic language), while main line Denominational Christians have a difficult time with the longer ending because of its reference to a physical understanding of the Resurrection.
The church historian, Eusebius (270 to 340 A.D.) writes that the longer ending of Mark's Gospel is lacking "in nearly all the more accurate copies." (ad Marin. quaest. I) This of course, proves that accurate copies of Mark's Gospel contained the longer ending, prior to the time the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus had been copied (350 A.D.). Further evidence for the longer ending of Mark's Gospel being canonical is that Irenaeus (140 to 202 A.D.) refers to Mark's Gospel as ending with the ascension of Jesus (Haer. iii, 10,6)!
"J" in California
Date: 22 Apr 2000
Time: 02:05:47
Jim in CT,
Thank you. I know that the majority of the people who will be those who have not been faithful -- perhaps they have been afraid to allow God to roll their stones away because they fear what lies beneath. It is my hope to allow them to see that God can make treasure out of whatever we've buried -- but I won't say it that way!!!
RevJan
Date: 22 Apr 2000
Time: 02:27:02
It was 3 weeks after my father's death, and, it was time to go back home, to be with my mother, to do some of the repairs to the house that needed to be done....to go and bring comfort and my presence into what had now become alonely home for mom....like the woman on the way to the tomb, I was coming to "do my duty" with a heavy heart, for my mother, and for me....wondering who and how the stone of death could possibly be removed...
As we entered the city limits of the small community where mom lived...I said to my 5-year-old daughter who was my travel companion....we're here...we're in the town where grandma and grandpa live....
And, in her small voice she replied, "But dad, grandpa doesn't live here anymore."
"Really" I said, "where does he live...."
"Dad, you know....grandpa lives in heaven now."
Who will roll the stone away? We ask....in our everyday experiences of helplessness and even duty....and then, God sends a voice...in my case a 5-year-old voice.... "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.
My five year old spoke with the naivete of a small child....a simple faith....and in that voice brought me back to another level of naivete....that could once again proclaim, "Yes, He is Risen...."
Have a blessed Easter....
DP in DL
Date: 22 Apr 2000
Time: 05:52:01
Desperate Colleagues-- I have just concluded (Tuesday of Holy Week) a several monthlong Bible study with 7 women from my congregation who are able theologians and courageous wrestlers with the texts. We have made it our task to hear each Gospel by itself. (We've gotten through John and Matthew in the past) With Mark, it has been an intriguing discipline to ask, "If this were the only Gospel we had..."
What I have been struck with this time comes from one theologian"s premise that Mark, writing to the nascent Christians in Jerusalem just before or during the terrible devastation and desecretion of Jerusalem and the Temple at the hands of the despised Roman powers (ca. 70,) that Mark intends to discredit the initial leadership of the church as having failed to get the message of Jesus and that Galilee, not Jerusalem, was to have been the center of the new reign of God. Mark's severe criticism of all the insiders--Disciples, Pharisees, Scribes etc, is in contrast with the outsiders who are, in fact, grasping the message Jesus proclaimed. A few examples from later chapters in the book are 1)Bartimaeus, who asks for his sight back, is granted it and follows on the way. This is in contrast to a scene earlier in the same chapter when James and John ask for positions of power and don't get it granted--Both incidents share Jesus exactly worded question: What do you want me to do for you?) 2)The anonymous woman who does, in fact, anoint Jesus with costly nard for burial ("who has done a fine and beautiful thing which will be told in memory of her") in contrast to the insider women who come too late to anoint for burial. 3)A stranger, Simon of Cyrene (father of Rufus and Alexander--were these sons active in the now devastated community?)was conscripted, plucked out of the crowd to be a cross bearing companion in Jesus' final hours in contrast to the disciples who were nowhere to be found taking up their cross and following... 4)Joseph of Arimathea--the enemy, a member of the Council who voted for Jesus' death--boldly did for Jesus' body what the disciples should have done..etc etc. (John's disciples had gotten John's body)
So when we arrive at chap.16 v.8, I'm inclined to believe that Mark intended to quit there...that the insider women basically were terrified and, in fact, said nothing to anyone. (The times of Mark and the tomb are both terrifying.)
The now clothed young man sitting in the tomb only reiterated what Jesus had already said to the disciples in a less stressful setting--Meet me back in Galilee...
For a community who has just (or will very soon have)suffered an ultimate and unimaginable chaos--no cell phones, no CNN--why would this be Gospel?
Could it be that Jesus' words would never disappear--even if heaven and earth(or the Temple and Jerusalem) would pass away--and that the wonderful, inclusive, little fallen seed is an unexpectedly green blade of new life in the Kingdom- a new community which would yet rise again, written in the lives of the sighted Bartimeaus; a scribe who was not far from the kingdom; the anonymous and lavish(she-and they-knows who she is) woman; Simon of Cyrene's sons; Joseph of Arimathea; and a once naked young man, now clothed and loaded with the straightforward word "He has been raised. He is not here" ...the beginning of the good news of Jesus...
I'm very taken with this angle of development in Mark's writing...but it isn't a sermon yet...Your reactions and feedback would sure be welcomed.
socalb
Date: 22 Apr 2000
Time: 17:51:09
April 22, 2000 time 12:40
Comment: First time reader, first time writer. My title is "Rolling Stones." I talk about the band, the Bob Dylan line in "How does it feel?" the magazine, the song that went, "My poppa was a rolling stone, wherever he laid his hat was his home, and when he died, all he left us was alone." and the maxim,"A rolling stone gathers no moss." While I don't know why anyone would want to gather moss anymore than anyone would consider catching more flies with honey than with vinegar as more desirable, I go on to point out that unless assisted otherwise rolling stones almost always go downhill. One of the exceptions was the stone in front of the tomb that was rolled up hill in its groove by an angel that bench presses 18 wheelers before breakfast. My tie in with the text is that the message to the women at the tomb is that they are not to stand there like statues "gathering moss", but are to get rolling. The problem with the gospel message is that too much we see ourselves as planted stones who see their purpose is to gather moss as opposed to rolling stones not unlike the one directly behind Indiana Jones. Rolling rolling rolling. keep those dogies rolling rawhide...head em' up round em up head em up move em out..move em out rawhide!!! wheeechtaaaaach!! Jim in Texas